I found a way to beat the heat by finding a bunch of snow up at Deer Lake! Despite all of the snow, the trail is easily navigable without route finding/GPS. The last mile of the trail is covered with soft and slushy snow, and is up to a couple feet deep in places. No need for micro spikes, but do recommend some waterproof boots as my feet got wet even though I had them. In multiple places there is a lot of water on trail, as well as several small streams to ford. I saw less than a dozen hikers after I passed Sol Duc Falls (the main attraction of the area, and where this trail starts). I had the Lake to myself for a bit and continued along main path until previous travelers' footsteps ended. It didn’t appear that anyone had gone past Deer Lake and up towards Seven Lakes Basin recently. I’ve been to Deer Lake 4 times now, and I’ve never seen a Deer. Whoever named the Lake is a liar.

We did a overnight backpack staying at Deer Lake for two nights. Since we haven't had a lot of rain the bugs were not too bad. Hardly a bite. The way up is rocky and rooty, but the trail is in good condition. We were happy to have made it to camp and snagged a nice camp spot in the meadow behind the privy. On day 2 we hiked to lunch lake. Note, the only water source between Deer Lake and Lunch Lake is Potholes, if it is a hot day you will want to make sure you carry plenty of water. I did not spot any bears but many others on the trail did. There is currently an abundance of blueberries and huckleberries on the trail to keep the bears happy. Lunch Lake was beautiful, but keep in mind it is a steep climb back out. Overall a terrific trip!

The six of us started on a sunny Sunday at 9 am. Parking was not an issue in the morning but was scarce when we returned at 5 pm. The road is paved all the way to the trailhead and an Olympic NP pass is required at the tollbooth (Discover Pass/NW Forest Pass not accepted).

The 0.8-mile Sol Duc Falls Trail was fairly busy with tourists, especially in the afternoon. We chose to go CCW, so took the Deer Lake Trail from the Falls area. CCW is superior due to the elevation profile. In regard to recent trip reports, the bugs were indeed the worst at Deer Lake than anywhere else on the hike, but they weren't anything more than an occasional annoyance. I think the lack of recent rain, a light breeze, and the fact we didn't stop near the lake helped. Bug spray is still recommended but I didn't feel bombarded.

Some snowfields exist starting at 4,700 feet on the Deer Lake Trail and continue intermittently on the High Divide Trail, but are nothing of concern. All sections of the trail are mostly snow-free. There is one 30-foot-long snow section a quarter-mile before Bogachiel Peak that has decent exposure but I felt pretty surefooted and safe using the established boot prints. Just take your time and exercise caution. Some of us had poles but none of us had any snow equipment and we didn't regret not bringing any. By next weekend there will probably be very little snow to speak of on the trail. There was an older gentleman coming down the trail near Deer Lake who basically chastised us for not bringing snow equipment. Kinda strange given the conditions, but perhaps a good reminder that different people can draw different conclusions about the requirements of the same trail on the same day. Or maybe he did the trail several days prior and it was more treacherous then.

The Bogachiel Peak Trail is steeper and narrower than the High Divide Trail and might require using your hands. It is snow free. The views of Mount Olympus, Seven Lakes Basin, Hoh River, the Straight, the Pacific, and Canada in the distance were incredible and make Bogachiel Peak a must-add detour from the High Divide Trail (a detour that actually subtracts mileage and elevation gain).

The Sol Duc River Trail is rockier and rootier in the top 2/3, but was so smooth in the bottom portion that it was very pleasant to jog it in.

The views were amazing, the wildflowers were pretty, and the trail is in great shape. Not a single blowdown to step over on the whole loop. More waterfalls than I expected too. We ended with 18 miles and 4,500 feet of gain in about 7 hours. It's a few weeks later than usual, but this loop is fully open for business! Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7523785860

As described elsewhere, shortly after leaving Sol Duc Falls and entering the trail to Deer Lake the tread becomes narrow, rocky, rooty and continues steadily uphill. The trail was snow-free the entire way.  At Deer Lake, patches of snow appeared on the west side of the lake and continued into the forest. We stopped for lunch at a mostly-flooded campsite adjacent to the inlet of Canyon Creek. The bridge over Canyon Creek was covered beneath sloppy, wet snow and snow continued for as far as we could see.

Started this loop at Mink Lake/Lover's Lane trailhead.  We hiked this loop clockwise via Lover's Lane, Deer Lake, Little Divide and Mink Lake trails. Lover's Lane is in good condition, the day started out fairly wet, and the trail was a just a little mucky on the surface.  Turned up Deer Lake trail, and the sun peeked out intermittently, sparkling on the dripping conifers.  We encountered our one and only person for the whole day doing a stroll up Deer Lake.  Started getting into snow patches at around 3400 ft, and by the time we got to Deer Lake the trail was completely covered.  Snow was soft and navigable, and there were some tracks to follow for a time, which we intermittently checked with GPS. Going up Little Divide trail to the ridge was pretty smooth going with continued tracks to follow.  At the ridge, we got above the clouds briefly with some warm sunshine, and the tracks stopped so we forged ahead with GPS...Once on the ridge traverse, the going was quite sketchy, steep slopes with icy snow - absolutely recommend wearing spikes through here, and using poles.  Very slow going, we were very happy to get to the meadow area and nice soft snow.  Still a LOT of snow throughout the whole Little Divide trail, so GPS is an absolute necessity.  Snow persisted after the Mink Lake trail turnoff, and finally disappeared at about 3400 ft.  Ended up being a long day, but we really enjoyed all the new flowers coming out, especially the marsh marigold in the streams and edges of snow patches.